Serial Port Monitoring

[adeorkim]

Hi, Im trying to find a program that will help me to set up an automatic download of data stored onboard earthmoving machines. We have a system that stores data on the on-board electronic system and allows us to manually download that data for analysis. But what I want to do is try and find a program that will allow the download to start automatically whenever there is activity sensed at the serial port. E.G when the serial port cable is hooked onto the machine, maybe allow an .exe file to be run whenever activity is sensed. Or maybe a marco can be started to activate the .exe file and then close the program in 10 minutes. This would allow the unattended computer to be ready for the next machine. Any help here would be greatly appreciated
adrian.clement@westrac.com.au

 

[tmoody]

First off, you probably will have to write some code to handle this. There may be something already out there, but you are locked into it and you need to get a task done. I've done what you requested with remote equipment but since RS232 is rather stupid, you need to rely on hardware. Your "earthmoving" equipment has stored the data on board, the task is getting it to you on the fly. One of the ways to do this is monitor the state of RTS on your earthmoving equipment. If the earthmovers don't use "full hardware handshake" you may be out of luck, but there is a little "trick" you may be able to get away with. If your equipment does not use hardware handshaking, AND you have access to the hardware on your equipment, you can pull DTR to a deasserted state(Hardwire that puppy to ground)and then monitor DTR. Whenever DTR goes low, somebody has connected a cable to your earthmoving equipment, and you can start pulling data. Probably not much of a help, but maybe I generated an idea!